Railway car structure



Get. '8, 194% G. GILPIN RAILWAY CAR STRUCTURE Filed Oct. 2'7. 1943 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 .lllllrll lllllllllKlll 2 Sheets-Sheei 2 a, 5:555 m m 3 3M ON 4 .m. M Q Q i A m Get. 8, 1946. e. s. GlLPIN RAILWAY CAR STRUCTURE Filed Oct. 27, 1943 Patented Oct. 8, 194% RAILWAY CAR STRUCTURE Garth G. Gilpin, Chicago, Ill., assignor-to Standard Railway Equipment Manufacturing Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Delaware Application October 27, 1943,Serial No. 508,083

6 Claims.

My invention relates to railway freight cars and more particularly to the wall structure for open top railway cars, such as hopper and gondola cars, though the construction is adaptable for other parts of conventional railway freight cars, such as end walls, doors and separate panels.

Railway freight cars are generally designed so that the side walls are girders or trusses to carry part of the weight of the lading and the car itself to the body bolsters which transmit such load to the trucks. Such walls also, of course, retain the load in the car. Since the outside width of any car is limited by the dimensions of tunnels and projections adjacent the track; and the pay-load is limited to the cubical capacity of the car, it is extremely desirable to so design the walls of the car so that the space, otherwise occupied by the wall itself, is available for lading and thereby the cubical capacity of the car is increased without increasing the overall car dimensions. This constitutes the principal object of the invention.

Attempts have heretofore been made to increase the capacity of cars by bulging outwardly central parts of wall panels, such, for example, as shown in the Hart Patent No. 1,623,591 of April 5, 1927. With my present invention, however, the whole wall, from the center line of bolster at one end to that at the other end, is disposed outside of the car posts, and thereby, is, in effect,

one continuous outwardly bulged panel, affording the maximum possible inside width of car, and this without decreasing the strength of such car wall, which is another object of my present invention.

Another object of the invention is to form the wall posts which extend within the lading cornpartment of a single web of relatively thin material to thereby reduce the carrying capacity of the car the minimum amount and to assure a complete discharge of the load when the hopper doors are opened or when the car is turned upside down for unloading.

As stated before, the side wall of a hopper or gondola railway car is a girder between the car bolsters and as girders comprise top chords, bottom chords, web plates and web plate stiffeners. The side walls are also load retaining means in which some of the stiffeners function as posts or stakes. Such cars are sometimes unloaded by opening the doors in the hoppers which are positioned between the center sills and side sills of the car and other times are unloaded by turning the car almost upside down in a dumping machine. In either event it is imperative that there be no obstruction within the car to interfere with the free and ready discharge of the lading. Even rivet heads are objectionable. It is important, therefore, that the portions of the car wall adia cent to Or forming part of the top and bottom chords, respectively, are sloped to eliminate pockets which would retain parts of certain ladings (such as sand, chats or fine coal). It is also important that the upper sloping element be as near the top of the side wall as possible and that the sloping element of the bottom chord be as near the bottom of the interior of the car as possible because the further these two elements are apart the greater the cubical capacity of the car will be.

The entire wall being shaped from flat sheet metal plates, bent, pressed or otherwise formed without the necessity of heating, provides the most economical Way of constructing the car wall, which is another important object of the invention.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear in the following description thereof.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings forming part of this application and wherein like reference characters indicate like parts:

Fig. 1 is a partial side elevation of a hopper car side wall embodying one form of my invention. Fig. 2 is a top plan view of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a vertical section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the inside portion of a car wall embodying the invention.

Fig. '7 shows the chamfered top of one of the stakes.

Fig. 8 shows how two wall sheets and a stake are welded together.

Fig. 9 is a vertical section through the lower chord of a modified form of the invention.

In the form of invention illustrated in Figs. 1 to 8 inclusive, my improved wall for railway car comprises a vertical wall sheet 2 extending substantially from end to end of car in one or more pieces and comprising a main portion 3 and upper margin portion bent to provide an upwardly and inwardly inclined marginal portion 4. The girder stifieners or stakes 5 are preferably made of fiat metallic bars extending transversely of the car whichare chamfered (1) at their upper ends (Fig. 7) to accommodate the inclined marginal portion 4 of the wall sheet 2. The main portion 3 and the inclined marginal portion 4 are both welded to the outer edges of several stakes including the chamfered portions 1 thereof. When the wall is made of more than one wall sheet the edges of the adjacent wall sheets overlap the edge of a stake 5 and the adjacent edges of the wall sheets are welded together and to the adjacent stake by a single row of welded material, as shown (8) in Fig. 8. By this arrangement very few wall sheets per car need be used; in fact, I contemplate extending each sheet from the bolster line I!) to the middle ll of the car, as shown in Fig. 1. As each stake 5 comprises a single web there is practically no interference with the free discharge of the lading, as no pockets are formed where the stakes meet the top and bottom chords, respectively. Furthermore, a flat metallic plate forms a very strong stiffener for the car wall as a girder and a very strong stake or post for the car wall as a retaining wall; that is, provided that the ends of the stakes are adequately attached to the top and bottom chords, respectively, as is hereinafter brought out. The stakes 5 are restrained from lateral deflection under stress by being attached not only to the wall sheet but by also being attached to the top and bottom chords, respectively, as illustrated particularly in Fig. 6.

The top chord of the girder includes an inverted L-shaped section having a member l3 having a horizontal arm [4 welded to the upper part of the marginal portion 4 of the wall sheet at [5 and a substantially vertical arm [6 welded to the lower part of the marginal portion 4 of the wall sheet below the tops of the stakes. This combination of the angular member l3 and the upper marginal portion 4 of the wall sheet provides a hollow or box sectional top chord which is strong in all directions and especially strong as the compression chord of the girder. By extending the vertical arm [6 of said member I3 below the tops of the stakes 5 an interlocking association or overlapping relationship between the chord and the stakes is provided whereby the tops of the stakes are adequately secured to the top chord so that these elements will properly function when the side wall is acting as a girder, and furthermore, the stakes are adequately attached to the top chord so that the wall will properly function as a retaining wall because the stakes properly transfer any load imposed thereon (by the wall sheets) to the top chord. .As an added protection it may be desirable to use a tie strut member l8 between some stakes on .op posite sides of the car, as, for instance, as shown in Figs. 4 and 6.

In order not to increase the overall width of the car, the top chord does not extend beyond the plane of the main portion 3 of the wall sheet; in fact, a sufliciently strong chord may be provided while allowing the vertical arm i6 of the member is to be well within the outer plane of the main portion 3 of the wall sheet, as shown inFig. 4.

The bottom chord or tension chord of the girder includes a member 20 having a vertical portion 2| welded to the inside edges of the stakes 5 and upwardly and outwardly inclined portions 22 extending between the stakes and welded to the vertical sides thereof and in alignment with corresponding inclined portions on the opposite sides of the stakes 5 so that, in effect, the inclined portions 22 constitute a single inclined portion as far as the tension value is concerned. The member 20 preferably also includes upstanding portions 23 hearing against and secured to the main portions 3 of the wall sheets for weld- -4 ing or riveting. The member cooperates with the lower portion of the wall sheet 2 (and the angle 26 if used) to form a very strong tension chord.

The conventional railway hopper car has a bottom chord member comprising an angle 28 extending from bolster to bolster and when using my improved wall for repairing such old cars I prefer to leave this angle 26 in the car and secure my bottom chord member 20 to it, as shown in Fig. 4. The vertical stakes 5 extend preferably to the bottom of this angle 26 and are secured thereto. In this arrangement the angle 26 reinforces my bottom chord member 20. The hopper sheets 28 are secured in any manner to either or both my bottom chord member or the angle 26, as shown in Fig. 4.

I prefer to make my bottom chord member 20 of metallic plate having spaced slots extending from one edge thereof with the portions of the plate between the slots forming the inclined portions 22 and the unslotted portions forming the vertical wall 2| which is secured to the inside edges of the stakes, all of which is shown in Figs. 4 and 6.

The inclined marginal portion 4 of the wall sheet, as shown in Figs. 4 and 6, extends to the extreme top of the car and the inclined portion 22 of the bottom chord is positioned as near the bottom of the side wall as possible (allowing for attachment of the hopper wall sheet) because the further apart the inclined portions 4 and 22 are positioned, the greater will be the cubical capacity of the car.

In the modification shown in Fig. 9 there is shown a modified form of bottom chord member which is substantially the same as the bottom chord member illustrated in Fig. 4 excepting that the side sill, illustrated at 26, Fig. 4, is made an integral part of the extension member. In the modified form, Fig, 9, the lower edge of the wall sheet is shown at 30, to which is welded the upwardly extending flange 3| of the bottom or tension chord of the girder. Issuing from the lower edge of this flange are downwardly and outwardly inclined portions 32 which extend between adjacent stakes and are welded to the vertical sides thereof. At the lower edge of the inclined portion the chord member is bent to provide a vertical portion 33, from the lower edge of which the member is again bent to provide the horizontal flange 34 which may support the floor 35 of a gondola car when the invention is used with such a car, or may be attached to a structural element of the underframe of the car, such as the cross bearer 36.

Applicant's copending application, filed concurrently herewith, Serial No, 508,082, discloses but does not claim certain structures shown and claimed herein.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the preferred form of the invention, though it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the exact details of construction shown and described, as it is obvious that various modifications thereof, within the scope of the claims, will occur to persons skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. A wall for a railway car comprising spaced apart stakes each comprising a single web extending transversely of said car and chamfered at its upper outer edge, a wall sheet bent along its upper portion to the plane of said chamfers and welded to the outer edges of said stakes including the chamfered portions thereof, and a top chord comprising an inverted L-shaped section welded at both edges thereof to the bent portion of said wall sheet in overlapping relation with said stakes.

2. A Wall for a railwway car comprising a girder formed of spaced apart stakes each comprising a portion extending transversely of said car and having a chamfered end, a wall sheet bent alon a marginal portion to the plane of said chamfers and welded to edges of said stakes including the chamfered portions thereof, and a chord comprising a, continuous angular member secured along both its edges to the bent portion of said wall sheet in overlapping relation with the chamfered ends of said stakes.

3. A wall for a railway car comprising a wall sheet comprising a vertical main portion and an upwardly and inwardly inclined marginal portion, a plurality of spaced vertical stakes formed of fiat metallic bars extending normally to said wall sheet which are welded to the inside of the main portion and the marginal portion of the Wall sheet; a top chord including a member comprising a substantially horizontal arm welded to the upper part of said marginal portion and, a i

substantially vertical arm welded to said marginal portion below the tops of the stakes, Whereby the said marginal portion and the said member form a hollow top chord in overlapping relation with the stakes.

4. A wall for a railway car comprising a girder formed. of a wall sheet comprising a vertical main portion and an inclined marginal portion, a, plurality of spaced vertical stakes each including a portion extendin normally to said wall sheet which ar secured to one side of the main portion and the marginal portion of the wall sheet; and a chord comprising an L-shaped section secured along both of its edges to the bent portion of said wall sheet in overlapping relation with said stakes.

5. A wall for a railway car comprising spaced apart stakes each comprising a single web extending transversely of said car and chamfered at its upper outer edge, a wall sheet bent to the plane of said chamfers and welded to the outer edges of said stakes including the chamfered portions thereof, and a chord comprising an L- shaped section welded at both edges thereof to the bent portion of said wall sheet in overlapping relation with said' stakes.

6. A wall for a railway car comprisin spaced apart stakes each including a portion extending transversely of said car, and chamfered at an outer end margin thereof, a wall sheet bent to the plane of said chamfers and secured to said stakes including the chamfered margin thereof, and a chord comprising an L-shaped section welded at both edges thereof to the bent portion of said wall sheet in overlapping relation with said stakes.

GARTH Gr. GILPIN. 

